Groups lining up to be part of CRTC new media working group

Cultural groups and broadcasters are lining up to be part of the CRTC’s new media working group following the Aug. 31 deadline to apply to participate. The Wire Report has confirmed that the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC), the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC), the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), the Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC), Rogers Communications Inc., Bell Canada and the CBC have applied to be members of the working group. Following inquiries from The Wire Report, the CRTC released a full list of working group applicants Thursday morning. The CRTC said it announced plans to create the new media working group on Aug. 13 when it established new reporting requirements for new media broadcasting undertakings. The working group is expected to issue a baseline report to the commission by the first quarter of 2011. The size of the group has not yet been determined but a CRTC official said the commission wants the group to represent all relevant interests. The working group will help develop standards for the reporting of new media revenues and expenditures. The CRTC is seeking more information about the financial state of new media undertakings affiliated with traditional broadcasters. The fact that groups are lining up to be a part of it appears to show that the working group will play an influential role in new media reporting. Rogers, Bell and the CBC declined to comment before the working group is formed, but cultural groups passed on their applications to participate in the working group, saying that reporting requirements for new media broadcasters represent a positive step. “We are hopeful that the new requirements will result in transparent, detailed, institutionalized reporting mechanisms for broadcasting in new media that will assist all of us in determining how successful our broadcasting system as a whole is in meeting the objectives of the Broadcasting Act,” said ACTRA’s application to the CRTC to participate in the new media working group. “As stated in our original submission to this process, knowing the amount, source, volume and type of Canadian programs available in digital media platforms is critical to being able to measure Canada’s success in ensuring that in an increasing borderless world that we are able to continue to create and enjoy Canadian content.” The DGC said in its application to participate that it sees the new reporting requirements as an opportunity to ensure that content creators can get their work on as many platforms as possible. “Creators need to know how and where their work is being consumed and the DGC is committed to ensuring the ability to follow one’s work is not lost in the myriad of new distribution options of new media,” wrote Brian Anthony, the DGC’s executive director and CEO, in the application. The WGC and DOC agreed that applying the new media reporting requirements only to undertakings affiliated with traditional broadcasters, such as CTV or Rogers, is acceptable for now. “Right now they’re in the broadcasting system. They’re receiving support through tax credits and CMF financing, and we understand that there is a process and a way to go, and we’re comfortable with this,” Maureen Parker, the WGC’s executive director, said in an interview. “For now the CRTC is addressing the affiliated broadcasters and we will encourage them to expand that, but it’s one step.” Critics have said that the reporting system could be deficient if it does not include reports from new media properties like iTunes or Netflix. The CRTC has said it may require additional new media enterprises to report at a later date. Lisa Fitzgibbons, executive director of DOC, told The Wire Report that a voluntary approach for unaffiliated new media undertakings to report their expenditures is appropriate in the short-term. “At this point, we feel that it might be very difficult to get other kinds of new media undertakings to report,” Fitzgibbons said. “We suggested that they be invited to report voluntarily on expenditures and that might be a way to get the ball rolling.” Fitzgibbons said she would like the new reporting requirements to ensure that her organization’s members, mostly documentary filmmakers, are compensated for the work they make available online. “We hear from our members how difficult it is to negotiate with broadcasters when it comes to cross-platform production,” Fitzgibbons said. “Our goal would be to ensure that there’s some sort of reporting on the kinds of compensation that are being given to production companies for those products.” Parker said she hopes that the new reporting requirements means that Canadian content and exhibition requirements will eventually apply to new media undertakings. “Our ultimate goal is to have the new media exemption order lifted,” Parker said. On June 4, 2009, the CRTC decided to extend its new media exemption order for an additional five years. Under the exemption, audiovisual content made available on mobile devices or delivered on the Internet cannot be regulated under Part II of the Broadcasting Act, which outlines the CRTC’s powers to regulate Canadian broadcasting and puts in place Canadian content, exhibition and spending rules. The CRTC can review the five-year exemption order at any time. “While broadcasting in new media is growing in importance, we do not believe that regulatory intervention is necessary at this time,” CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein said in a release last year, the same day that the new media exemption was extended. “We found that the Internet and mobile services are acting in a complementary fashion to the traditional broadcasting system. Any intervention on our part would only get in the way of innovation.” In July 2010, the Federal Court of Appeal decided that Internet service providers (ISPs) play a “content neutral role” when they transmit data and do not carry on broadcasting activities. The decision established that, under the existing regulatory framework, ISPs are not subject to the Broadcasting Act as broadcasting undertakings. But the WGC argues that the CRTC should ensure that Canadian content is protected on new media platforms. “We want to ensure that Canadians have access to Canadian content on all platforms,” Parker said. jmigneault@thewirereport.ca

Groups lining up to be part of CRTC new media working group

Broadcast | September 8, 2010

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us